More Sydney

We've continued to enjoy this beautiful city...and to take full advantage of our weekly ferry passes to explore the pretty little suburbs around the harbor. Here are a few photos of the week's ramblings:



We've been lucky with the weather as you can see. Have had a few really spectacular days that made for good photo ops - like this view as the Manly ferry is approaching Circular Quay, just around the corner from the Opera House. Note the cruise ship at the terminal. Rather than trying to elbow our way thru all of the "boat people" we opted to get away from the downtown area and caught another ferry over to the upscale suburbs of Balmain, Woolwich, Greenwich, and Hunters Hill - pretty little communities with some nice relaxing walks.




One of the stops on the ferry ride over to Balmain is Luna Park - an amusement park just the other side of the Harbor Bridge that's marked by this creepy looking face at the entrance. It's a Sydney icon, and I guess has been here for about 50 years.


Another pleasant saunter was around the other side of the Opera House to the Royal Botanical Gardens, which occupies the site of the original vegetable patch laid out by First Fleet settlers back in 1788. It's now a huge green space in the middle of the city - attracting office workers on their lunch hour and joggers enjoying the serpentine paths that wind thru and around the harbor-side setting. This particular spot is a popular photo stop for the bus tours...for obvious reasons, so we took our turn in the queue.



One of the features that make Sydney such a beguiling place to visit is the assortment of pretty shoreline walks all around the harbor. Someone definitely got it right years ago when miles of shoreline were set aside as part of Sydney Harbor National Park - a green buffer between the housing developments and the water. This particular pathway wound its way along for about 3 miles. Along the way you encounter obscure little ferry wharfs where (if you're so inclined) you can hop on a boat and return to Circular Quay, proceed further along the ferry route and hop off anywhere that pleases you or, as we did, just pop in to have a flat white (a local coffee), sit a while, and recharge for the next leg of the hike. What a pleasant place this is.



For me, what makes the city especially attractive and endearing is the fact that all along the shoreline walks - and anywhere you walk in any of the suburbs - you're constantly getting glimpses of the harbor. It peeks at you around every corner, from tiny little picturesque coves like this one to full blown panoramic views from one of the headlands...usually with views of either the Harbor Bridge or the Opera House.







See what I mean? Am told that the harbor itself is only about 19 miles long from the entrance to where you enter the Paramatta River west of the city (where the Olympic venues were in 2000). Thing is, that with all of the little inlets, bays, nooks and crannies that meander off in various directions there must be several hundred miles of actual coastline around the harbor, all of it providing elevated prospects like this one looking down at the water. I don't know if there's such a thing as a "perfect city", but for me Sydney comes as close to it as any place I've ever been. In my next life I want to come back as a "Sydneysider" as the locals are called...(also, rich, famous, talented...oh, well, you get the idea.)




Some wild orchids decorating a section of one of the shore-line walks.



As we rounded a corner on one of our hikes we encountered this Eastern Water Dragon sunning himself on the path - one of the many exotic creatures that live in the bush around here. Looks pretty fierce but they're actually harmless. Seeing him was a little startling at first - he must have been nearly 3 feet long - and at first glance I thought he was a snake. Since we were in the vicinity of the Taronga Zoo we initially thought that he might have been an escapee but nope, turns out that he was just another one of the locals. We later saw about 20 more as we proceeded on.


Leaving the Quay on the ferry back to Manly. You just can't get away from the Opera House. It sits smack in the center of the harbor and your eye is constantly drawn to it no matter where you are. One thing's for sure. In an age when every city is starting to look like every other city you're never going to mistake Sydney for anywhere else. It really is unique.



And the screen saver view as we motored by one sunny afternoon.

We'll be back here for a couple of days at the end of April - just before we jump on our return flight to Portland in fact- but for now it's time to re-claim the car and head west out of the city to the Blue Mountains.

Sydney

Driving up from Jervis Bay we took a short side trip over to Botany Bay National Park. Located just south of the city - directly across from Sydney's international airport in fact - it's the site of Capt. Cook's landing in April 1770. Although he only stayed here for 8 days before continuing north to chart the rest of the east coast of what was then called New Holland, his visit had a profound effect on world events. It was his botanist on the expedition, Joseph Banks, who later recommended this place as a viable location for a penal settlement, which the British Parliament finally acted on 18 years later by dispatching the First Fleet to establish a colony. They arrived in January 1788 only a few days before a French fleet sailed into the harbor on its own voyage of exploration. So....by the slimmest of historical margins Australia was claimed and settled by the Brits and not the French. Didn't take the new settlers long to realize that Banks' description of the amenities to be found in Botany Bay were a bit overstated so they went looking for an alternative. About a week after their initial arrival they sailed up the coast a bit, turned left, and entered Sydney Harbor (or Port Jackson as it's officially known), planted the flag, and established their colony. The date, January 26, is still celebrated as Australia Day.




This was the spot where the Endeavor anchored, collected water from a nearby stream, and made first contact with the aboriginal people who had occupied the continent for over 60,000 years...one of whom they shot in the legs when he challenged a landing party at the beach. While the park itself is quite well done, with a nice interpretive walk, good signage, and numerous plaques and monuments like this obelisk to describe the events that happened here, am afraid that the surrounding area detracts a bit from the whole experience. The area adjacent to the historical reserve is essentially an industrial park, with what appears to be an oil tanker terminal just offshore.


After spending a couple of hours at Botany Bay we motored up into the city, crossed via the harbor tunnel into the northern suburbs, and found our rental apartment in the beach community of Manly - our favorite place in our favorite city in our favorite country on earth. There are a lot of places we've found on our travels that we really like, but there's only one that we absolutely love - and it's Sydney.



Looking down from our window at one of the departing ferries. We bought a couple of weekly passes and have been spending our time riding the boats to all of the far-flung suburbs that dot the shoreline around the harbor. It's a 30 minute ride to get from Manly to the main ferry terminal at Circular Quay, from which you can connect to other ferry services to get anywhere in the city.




Looking out another window at Manly cove and the wharf. The main beach is located about 100 yards to the right of the photo - it's a pretty good surfing beach too.



A nice look at the Opera House as we passed by on the ferry. That's Circular Quay just to the right, and the Royal Botanical Gardens are just behind it.





With the weekly pass the ferries were basically a "hop on - hop off" service for us, and we took full advantage to see parts of the city we hadn't been to before and revisiting others that we knew from previous trips. This is the little cove at Watson's Bay - the starting point for one of the many beautiful shoreline walks that surround the harbor.



The British influence is very apparent all around the city and only adds to the charm of the place - like these schoolgirls in their uniforms heading home after school. Stopped along the way on one of our walks to watch some of the younger kids playing Cricket in the park.



Everyone recognizes the Opera House, but the other Sydney icon (which also borders Circular Quay) is the Harbor Bridge...or the "Coat Hanger"as it's known locally.



So, you have the Opera House on one side and the Harbor Bridge on the other, and you get to ride around on little ferries like this one to commute to work every day...or to explore the city as a tourist. Makes you feel like you're in a children's story book at times.



This is a replica of HMS Bounty that was built for the Anthony Hopkins/Mel Gibson movie many years ago. Can take a two hour luncheon cruise on it every day. Floggings are optional.

We'll be here for a total of 10 days before heading up into the Blue Mountains just west of the city.

Jervis Bay

After leaving the mountains we headed toward Sydney with a stop in Jervis Bay for a few days - one of the many beautiful beach communities along the southeast coast of New South Wales. It was still drizzling as we departed Thredbo - in fact we had to modify our route because of a landslide across the highway in one section - but it gradually started to clear as we passed near Canberra on our way towards the coast. We were finally blessed with sunshine during our time there, and so were able to get out and about to do some exploring - and hiking - in the many National Parks in the area.



The entire bay was absolutely gorgeous, and the centerpiece is Hyams Beach - advertised as having the whitest sand in the world. Like Barking Sands on Kauai, the sands are so clean that they squeak when you walk on them, and the water is as clear as a swimming pool. It was like a bit of the Caribbean plunked down in an Australian Bay. Must say though, that as beautiful as the place was, the sand still wasn't quite as white as the powdered sugar beaches of Pensacola, which really have to be seen to be believed.



Lots of creatures about in the National Park, including this mother kangaroo and her joey. There's a beach not far from here where it's said that the kangaroos actually go into the water and body surf..if you can believe that.





We made it a point to go walking in the evening - about an hour before sunset one night - hoping that the animals would be out and we certainly weren't disappointed. Saw several mobs of kangaroos, lots of wallabies, and flocks of birds including this guy in the picnic area mooching an evening's meal. Not sure if he's a Lorikeet or a Rozella, but there were about a half-dozen of them flitting around.





Got up early one day and drove around to one of the more remote trailheads in the park. We were the first ones to arrive at this beach and pretty much had it to ourselves for an hour or so while we explored the surrounding bay.




One souvenir from the recent rains was this Bluebottle (or "Bluey" in the local lingo). It's a Portugese Man-o-war that rode the winds onto the beach during the recent storm. While the tentacles aren't life-threatening like the Box Jellyfish in Queensland, they will make for a bad day at the beach if they wrap around a leg or an ankle. Some of the popular swimming beaches here have stations every hundred yards or so stocked with bottles of vinegar...to dowse the affected area from a jellyfish sting and neutralize the poison (and relieve the pain).




Our lunch spot on a sunny day.


After four pleasant and blessedly sunny days at the beach we packed up and pointed the car towards Sydney - our favorite city on earth. Will be staying in the northern suburb of Manly - a 30 minute ferry ride across the harbor from Circular Quay and the downtown area. Hoping the weather stays nice.

Charlotte Pass

Yesterday was another reasonably sunny day, so we drove around to Charlotte Pass - another winter ski destination in the Snowy Mountains but also the trailhead for several nice hikes. There are several thousand brumbies in this area - ie herds of wild horses, the descendants of domesticated pack horses that either escaped or were released into the bush about 100 years ago. Didn't see any, even though we scanned the surrounding hillsides with the binoculars when we stopped for lunch.



We initially intended to walk this track to a local feature called Blue Lake, but upon arriving at the river below we found the water swift flowing and too deep to safely ford on foot. My boots are waterproof but Rita's are not, so we decided it was a bit too risky to venture across, especially if any rain further up the valley swelled the stream any more than it already was. So...we headed back up the trail and set out on an alternate route along the crest of the hill back towards Mt. Kosciusko - or Kozzie as the locals call it - the same place we hiked to the previous day, but from the other direction.




The Man from Snowy River (Also a famous Australian poem).



...and the Woman from Snowy River.







Heading towards Seaman's Hut - built here after a couple of local blokes perished in a blizzard back in the 1920's. You see lots of these remote shelters in this area - a testament to the freaky nature of the local weather. Guess they can get a sudden snowstorm up here any month of the year. There were a number of cautionary signs on the way up warning hikers to be prepared when going into the back country...which this most certainly is.




And a closer look at the emergency shelter.


Here are a couple of views of the Snowy River from the picnic spot where we stopped on the way down the hill.






There's a local fish that lives in the river - even this high up - that apparently is known to crawl up on the rocks to sun themselves on sunny days. Supposed to be Yabbies (crayfish) too, although we never saw any. Kept looking around for Platypus while we were having lunch, thinking one or two might have worked there way up here feeding on the Yabbies...but no luck.



Although most of the area was alpine tundra and totally devoid of any trees, we did pass thru this forest of Snow Gums on the way back to the trailhead.


We're here for another couple of days before heading down out of the mountains, and the forecast is gloomy - more rain until Saturday. Oh well.

And the Rains Came

After several steaming days in Ballarat and the Gold Fields area of Victoria we were looking forward to the rain that was forecast to arrive the day we departed for Beechworth. Didn't quite plan on the biblical deluge that was to come, however. The day we pulled into our little cottage in the back country near Beechworth the streams were just trickles - you could easily ford any of them across the concrete causeways that had been built for that purpose. Below, however, is what one of them looked like after a few days of constant rain...a real flash flood that lasted for several days after the rains paused as the surrounding area drained into streams and rivers that hadn't seen any significant rain for 10 years.


No kidding... Guess when the indicator is completely submerged that's a bad sign, eh?





A little further down the road

This area was one of the first sites where gold was discovered back in around 1852. Aussie miners who took off for California in 1849 returned empty handed but with the recollection of how much the country around here resembled the diggings of Central California. They started panning some of the creeks and came upon significant quantities of the yellow stuff almost immediately, and the rush was on. At it's peak this area had about a dozen gold rush towns with a total population of over 35,000. Now, however, the only significant town in the area is Beechworth - one of the most picturesque little Australian towns we've seen. It's a throwback to rural American towns from the 1950's, when all business was concentrated around a central square. Parking is the old fashioned way, ie head-in on an angle. For bread and pastry you go to the town bakery, for meat you go to the butcher, etc. All in all a very pleasant place...despite the wet weather.

One of the charms of this, and most other areas in rural Australia, is the naming of the little towns back in the bush. The interposition of English names with Aboriginal ones is interesting. Near Beechworth, for example, are the towns of Wangaratta, Yackandandah, Tangambalanga, and Mudgeegonga. How'd you like to be a Police dispatcher around here?

Our stay here included our first unplanned "adventure" of the trip. On our second day I missed a turn in our rental car and found myself heading down a progressively narrower one-lane farm road. Realizing my error I starting backing out until I spied what appeared to be a good turn-around point from which I could back the car in part way and then get it pointed back in the direction I was going. Well, I hadn't checked the firmness of the ground before I did it...I mean the day before everything was as hard as concrete, right? Problem was that with the rain everything had softened up and my turn-around place was now a (very) soft shoulder. Long story short, we got completely bogged down - wheels spinning in vain trying to find some traction, etc. I mean we were really stuck. So...we hoofed it back down the road to try to find a house or farm or something where I could borrow a shovel to try to dig us out. Finally found a farmhouse where a very nice Aussie lady offered to give me a hand. After digging for over an hour, and getting comprehensively exhausted (not to mention filthy) in the process, we struck upon the idea of hooking a chain around one of the front wheels and trying to pull it out that way. Well, the jury-rigged solution worked thank goodness or I think we'd still be there. The couple then invited us to join them for a cup of coffee in their home before we set off for a good wash. Spent a most pleasant hour or so with them before heading off. Of course they wouldn't hear of any sort of compensation for the rescue, but we later returned with a gift basket of local goodies we picked up in town as a means of saying thanks.





We did get out and about for some hiking. Came across this termite mound on one of them

Thredbo and the Snowy Mountains

The rains followed us across the Murray river from Victoria into New South Wales. They were just starting to announce massive road closures in the area due to flooding so I was concerned about getting out of there. Made it with only one detour, although we did see miles and miles of flooded lowlands near the rivers...and several newly created little islands where livestock and wildlife had taken refuge. As we watched the weather news from the safety of the mountains in Thredbo the descriptions progressed from "worst flooding in 25 years" to "worst in 100 years" to (finally) "worst flooding on record", ie since settlement in the 1850's. Oh, the irony! We came here to escape the winter rains of the Pacific Northwest only to drive into "The Big Wet" as they're calling it now. Ugh!

The rains finally stopped for a few days - long enough for us to enjoy the beautiful scenery in and around Thredbo where we've stopped for the week.


Thredbo Village. Our apartment is furthest up the hill - with a nice view across the valley to the ski lifts. This is primarily a winter destination. Guess the skiing is outstanding, but it's a great summertime destination as well thanks to all of the terrific scenery and hikes in the area.





Our view across to the chairlifts.


We're in the middle of the Snowy River Country, and in fact are in the middle of Kosciusko National Park, named rather improbably for a Polish National hero named Taddeuz Kosciusko. Seems one of the early explorers of the area was a Polish national and noted the apparent similarity of the shape of one of the mountains to the Kosciusko Mound in Krakow and so named the mountain in his honor. Turns out that it's the highest mountain in Australia, and makes for an interesting hike from Thredbo...which we did one sunny but chilly afternoon.

Lots of pretty scenery on the way up the hill.



Most of the walk across the alpine tundra was on this elevated track. Am told it took them 19 years to complete it, but it must be a model of its type - protects the growth on the tundra while ensuring a dry track for the hikers.







The view from the rooftop of Australia at about 7,000 ft elevation.

We've had a couple of spectacular days here, although the flooding continues in New South Wales not far away. Hoping to get out and about once or twice more before we push off towards Sydney on Friday.

Around Victoria

After leaving Koroit we spent the next week or so meandering through the state of Victoria. Did a day trip up to the little town of Hall's Gap in the Grampian Mountains west of Melbourne, stopped for a couple of days in the Gold Rush town of Ballarat, then moved further east to the little town of Beechworth - another gold rush town founded during the heady days of 1851-52 when the area exploded with miners seeking their fortunes in the gold fields. Apparently the rush nearly emptied the city of Melbourne as every male between the ages of 15 and 80 headed for the hills. Story is that 75% of the male population of Melbourne (including the Mayor) left the city virtually overnight.




Did a tough (and hot) hike up at Hall's Gap - straight uphill to this pretty lookout overlooking the valley below. Rita would NOT approach the end any closer than this.





Lots of photo ops on the way back down. It was a sunny day but a hot one - pushing 90 deg., so we were pretty spent by the time we returned to the car park in the afternoon.






On the drive to Beechworth we stopped off in the town of Echuca for lunch. The place used to be a major transportation hub back in gold rush days - it was the place where the rail line from Melbourne met the ferries that plied the river. They still offer ferry rides on old sidewheel steamers for the tourists.

One of our side trip after we got to Beechworth was to Glenrowan - the site of "Ned Kelly's Last Stand". Ned Kelly was the most famous of the Australian Bush Rangers (outlaws) of the 19th century. For some reason the Aussie heroes tend to be outlaws - they don't have any law enforcement icons like a Wyatt Earp or Elliot Ness - and Ned Kelly was one of the worst of the bunch. After a 10 year career of horse stealing, cattle theft, and at least 4 murders of police officers, he was finally captured here in Glenrowan in 1880 after a shootout and siege that lasted most of two days. It ended when Kelly appeared wearing a homemade suit of armor (made from ploughshares) and dared the police to fire at him. They obliged, to little effect at first because of the protection of the armor, until they realized that it was only his upper body that was shielded, so they sot him in the legs until he went down. He later recovered from approximately 50 bullet wounds well enough to be hung at Melbourne jail. Why he's such an icon given his murderous history is a mystery until you realize that he was an Irish outlaw in a predominately Irish part of Victoria. Anyway, he's considered a big hero in Australia. Glenrowan and the surrounding area does a big tourist trade for being in "Ned Kelly Country".



Subtlety is not the watchword when it comes to Ned Kelly association with the town. This is the display that you see as you enter town on the main road - Ned in his suit of armor.



There's a Ned Kelly walk around the area, where you can retrace the steps of both the gang and the police as they shot it out. This is the spot where Ned finally went down. Note the bullet hole representations on his legs - no detail is omitted.



Spent a couple of days in Ballarat - once the richest city (per capita) on earth thanks to the riches of the gold finds in the surrounding area. Today it's a beautiful small town just a 2 hour drive from Melbourne.




The old Provincial hotel - located across the street from the (still functioning) railroad station.

After Ballarat we drove over to Beechworth - about as deep in the bush as we're likely to get on this trip. The weather had been getting progressively hotter by the day, until it was pushing 95 during our time in Ballarat. So, when rain was forecast for our last day we welcomed the prospect of a refreshing shower and some cooler temperatures. But, as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for...